Having satirized the conservative point of view for years on the
"Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert could both celebrate and mourn
the firing of Bill O'Reilly by Fox News.

"He's been a guest on this show, and I take no pleasure in his
downfall. I'm not going to sit here and publicly gloat," Colbert
said on Wednesday's "Late Show" before instructing the crew to
take the camera off him so he could privately gloat.

O'Reilly's exit comes after an explosive report by The New York Times found that Fox and
O'Reilly had paid $13 million in settlements to women who had
accused the host of making unwanted sexual advances, as well as
new accusations of sexual harassment and an exodus of more than 20 advertisers from
the time slot of "The O'Reilly Factor."

O'Reilly said last week he was taking a previously planned
vacation. But on Wednesday, Fox issued a statement confirming that he would
"not be returning to the Fox News Channel."

"It's not that big of a surprise," Colbert said. "We all saw this
coming at us like an old man cornering an intern in the break
room."

"The O'Reilly Factor" was the top-rated program across all the
cable news networks for more than a decade. Colbert gave credit
to O'Reilly's popularity when the audience booed the part of
Fox's statement calling O'Reilly "one of the most accomplished TV
personalities in the history of cable news."

But Colbert had to pay some homage to O'Reilly, saying he had
based part of his "Colbert Report" character on the conservative
newsman. To present another point of view, he brought back the
"Report" character to bid farewell to his icon.

"Shame on you. You failed him. You failed Bill O'Reilly," he said
to America. "You didn't deserve this great man. All he ever did
was have your back — and if you're a woman, you know, have a go
at the front, too."

Coming out of the taped sketch, Colbert offered O'Reilly devotees
some consolation.

"In case you're a fan of sexual harassers who are on TV all the
time, we still have Donald Trump," he said.